The Exeter Project

by Shadow0Fire

After the untimely destruction of America's rampaging I.S, the Gospel, the nation lost all privileges to own Infinite Stratos tech. It's new project, Exeter, carries the dream of a new breed of aerial ingenuity, and with it, the mission to become ruler of the skies for the USA. Only two things stand in the way of this dream; the I.S. Academy, and the heart of Exeter's own pilot.

26. Triple Entente

Finally back at the Academy for the foreseeable future, huh? Man, somehow it feels like there was a much longer absence from this place, doesn't it?

---

Being back in the Academy after such a relatively long absence, Church found it somewhat strange, especially because there was a certain air of nostalgia about it. He found that ironic, considering the fact that he wasn't even a student here, and overall, he hadn't actually been here all that long. Really, he'd hardly spent enough time here to reasonably attach any sort of nostalgia to it... but even in the short time that he had known this place, it was filled with most happy memories. If one ignored the Crucible incident and Rin almost dying, it was almost all good.

Maybe those good memories were more valuable to him because such experiences had been rare in his life prior to the start of the mission. Whatever the reason, Church was glad to be back here. On the other hand, being back here meant less time to spend with girls overall, and less girls in bikinis in particular, but there was nothing to be done about that. Church chose to focus on the good rather than the bad. Especially since he had a lot of serious things to think about: there was no reason to add any unnecessary unhappy thoughts on top of it all.

He had a good place to think about it: magnetically attached to the side of the Academy tower, Church had a pretty good view of the ocean surrounding the island. It was calming, which was helpful for the kind of things he had to think about.

He was still holding onto the Akatsubaki data, debating when or if he would fork it over to Umbra Stratum. So far, he hadn't been harassed again about his mission progress, but it was inevitable that he would be at some point. He could just lie and say he still hadn't acquired the data, but the more he pushed the envelope on that, the more difficult his position would become.

He needed to figure out how much he could trust Umbra Stratum, and fast. At this point he didn't really doubt that Aggregate Paragon had something to do with the Crucible incident, though he couldn't know for sure. There was also some obvious connection between Umbra Stratum and Phantom Task, though Church had no further information than that. They were up to something, and Church strongly believed that it was nothing good. He certainly didn't like the idea of theoretically being a part of it. After all, he doubted the acquisition of the Akatsubaki data was unrelated to everything he had seen in that file in Sierra Leone.

That said, the young operative wasn't quite sure what his options were at this point. Mostly because he didn't know enough details: was Umbra Stratum going rogue here, or were they acting on legitimate government orders? If it was the latter, Church going against them would undoubtedly make him a traitor to his country. In general, the young man didn't want that, though he could admit there were some reasons he would feasibly betray the nation if need be. But did he have a good enough reason to do that at this point?

After all, there was no denying that America was in a very vulnerable state right now. Without I.S. of their own, even their powerful conventional military wasn't enough to stay on even footing with other world powers. Exeter could feasibly go against many I.S. threats, but there was only one Exeter suit, and it couldn't do enough on its own to compensate for the lack of numbers. If a war broke out, it wasn't like Exeter could be everywhere at once. Theoretically, there was no reason the United States couldn't produce more Exeter suits, but there was no telling how long that would take, or how difficult it would be to find ideal pilots for them.

Either way, it made sense that America would want the Akatsubaki data, to develop countermeasures if nothing else. But was that really all that Umbra Stratum was going to do with it? Were they really going to use it just to put America back on even footing with everyone else, or were they going to take it a step further and use it for their own gain? After all, if maintaining peace was really the goal, there was no reason to risk an international conflict by attacking the Academy. That is, assuming the Crucible incident was actually an intended attack, and not something else entirely...

He needed more information to act on, but there was no more information to be gained in the way he had got it the first time. He couldn't just run around raiding Umbra Stratum bases, hoping remain undetected and unidentified every single time. Plus, there was no guarantee he would even be able to acquire the information he wanted at an Umbra Stratum base. After all, the first Aggregate Paragon file had been trapped, so any other copies would probably be trapped as well.

His only option to find out more about Aggregate Paragon was to find out more about Phantom Task. The problem was figuring out how to do that. It wasn't like he could just Google the motherfuckers and learn everything he needed to know. He needed to corner them, or at least one of them, so he could have an interrogation. As for how to go about that...

Cerberus, if you had to make an assumption, what do you think is Phantom Task's next move?

Having been silent in whatever computations it had been doing, Cerberus made its opinion known.

It is difficult to say, Operator. Arachne was stolen from a high security U.S. installation, with no lapse in defense or security. Under normal circumstances I would say their next most likely target would be a poorly defended I.S., but they have proven a willingness to assault fortified bases to get what they want. And that's assuming their next move is to steal another I.S., rather than attack us a second time.

Exactly how many I.S. have they managed to steal, anyway?

As far as is officially known, Phantom Task has 'appropriated' only two I.S. thus far.

Honestly, Church was a little surprised to hear that the number was so low. He hadn't been under the impression that Phantom Task was a particularly new organization. Then again, stealing I.S. was probably a very daunting and difficult prospect. It wasn't really hard to believe that they were only able to pull it off once in a blue moon.

Well, one was obviously Arachne. What was the other one?

England's Silent Zephyrus.

I've never heard of that one.

Cerberus pulled up some available schematics and data on the I.S. in question, though it wasn't much. It looked like the I.S. was fairly new and hadn't been made public at the time of its disappearance.

It is essentially a superior Blue Tears. It has similar armaments and function, but all are vastly improved. It was completed earlier this year, but was stolen roughly four months ago.

If it's better than Blue Tears, why wasn't Cecilia piloting it this whole time?

Her compatibility was not high enough at the time of testing to safely operate the machine.

Church was honestly shocked to hear this. Cecilia's dossier specified her extremely high compatibility with Blue Tears. To think that she hadn't been able to handle an improved version was surprising.

I find that hard to believe. Cecilia's compatibility with the Blue Tears model was supposedly the highest of all the test pilots.

It's possible that Silent Zephyrus was simply developed beyond normal human capacity to manage. It is likely that the developers aimed too high in their first design and would have mitigated its abilities to match a human pilot at some point. It is also possible that Silent Zephyrus was intended to be an AI unit.

I would mention how that's illegal, but that would be a bit hypocritical…

Indeed.

Shrugging off that small point, Church continued with the original tangent.

If no one has the ability to effectively pilot Silent Zephyrus, why would Phantom Task even bother taking it?

To be fair, Operator, we only know that the test pilots did not have high enough compatibility. There is no evidence to support the notion that absolutely no human on Earth could manage it.

Church honestly didn't want to think about that, though he really had no choice. Anyone good enough to pilot a machine like that would be a formidable foe. And if someone like that was among Phantom Task, it raised the question as to whether or not he really wanted to try and trap them. It would have been really embarrassing to lure them in, only to get his ass kicked or worse.

With a sigh, Church acknowledged that he needed more time to come up with a plan, and inspiration probably wasn't going to strike him while he was sitting around. With that in mind, Church peeled his magnetic boots off of the steel surface and dropped towards the ground, plummeting at speeds accelerated by Exeter's weight.

He already had Charlotte's upgrade package equipped, which they had named 'Starstreak' while on the flight back to Japan, providing Church with the speed and maneuverability to pull off some maneuvers he wanted to test. He actually boosted at the ground, shortening his drop from tower to surface to little more than a few seconds. There was the automated system warning about low altitude as he neared the ground, but Church waited until he could practically reach out and touch the concrete below him before gunning the MTF propulsion system.

The sudden multiplication of thrust was so immense that Exeter practically pulled a ninety degree turn to avoid the ground. It probably would have looked awesome to a third party, but the absolutely unnatural lurch and change of trajectory nearly made Church hurl. Even with some upgraded inertial dampening that had been added over the last few days, that kind of maneuver was still extreme.

Thankfully, he managed to avoid filling his helmet, and Church continued to boost around the grounds while most every student was in class. With no one around to reprimand him, he figured this was the best time to test some of the maneuvers the Starstreak unit could pull.

Besides, at this point he wasn't sure if Chifuyu would even reprimand him for doing something like this. He hadn't heard from the woman since yesterday, when she had seemingly shut down in her entirety after the debacle caused by Tabane. Naturally, he hadn't gotten his phone back either. Which meant that she couldn't text him if she were going to say anything about the incident, but it wasn't like Church hadn't been around for most of the morning. If Chifuyu wanted to talk to him, he was pretty sure she would be able to track him down.

Church didn't blame her for this, of course. For a woman as dignified and stoic as Chifuyu, being exposed in such a scandalous light to a man was probably very troubling for her. She may have felt humiliated, violated, or worse. There hadn't been a whole lot of time for Chifuyu to process those feelings and figure out what she wanted to do about them. It made sense that she would avoid Church until she got all of that squared away.

The real concern for Church was whether or not this period of avoidance would actually end. Depending on how awkward and uncomfortable she felt, it was possible that Chifuyu would simply interact with him less. Maybe even as a little as possible. She could theoretically just have people like Maya speak to him on her behalf. Honestly, Church was very happy to have seen Chifuyu half-naked, but if it meant their cordial relationship was going to wind up in the gutter, he definitely would have preferred for that to never happen. Hell, if this screwed over their relationship, he might have to throw hands with Tabane too...

As of right now, all he could do was give the older woman some time and hope for the best. But thinking about how things could have gone wrong, Church tried to distract himself with his further testing of the Starstreak module. He eventually corkscrewed into the arena since there was enough space to pull maneuvers in there without bothering much of anyone, but as Church coasted an inch or two from the ground, he suddenly found his path obstructed by a wall of water that had materialized seemingly from nowhere.

Aside from the general question of where the hell this water had come from, several options flashed through Church's mind as to how he could respond. Assuming it was just water, he could fly right through it. But since this was most certainly an unnatural phenomenon, it was obviously not normal water. He could shoot it with some sort of weapon, or he could just dodge it. With the Starstreak unit equipped he could easily manage that.

Thanks to the build of his new propulsion system, Church could produce full power thrust to push himself perfectly left or right even in the middle of forward acceleration. He took advantage of that new ability to simply launch himself away from the liquid obstacle and go around it, though he of course came to a rapid stop to investigate its source once it had been evaded.

Turning to glance back at the disturbance, Church eyed a certain blue-haired girl that he hadn't talked to in some time: Tatenashi, president of the student council. She didn't seem to be in an overly hostile mood or anything, with that easy going smile on her face, but with the manifested I.S. gauntlet on her hand, it was obvious that she had created the water obstacle that had suddenly blocked his path.

"Shouldn't you be in class, Ms. President?"

Folding a small hand fan that she carried in her other hand, Tatenashi continued to smile. "My position comes with a certain amount of freedom, y'know? You know it's against school rules to activate I.S. outside of an official match, right?"

Getting the feeling that she was specifically referring to him, Church cocked an eyebrow at her from behind his helmet. "This isn't an I.S."

"I think you know it's close enough. I mean, I don't really mind that much, but... well, I'm a little miffed that you didn't text me even once the entire time you were on vacation, so I feel like causing a scene."

Church folded his arms, his confusion mounting. "Hold on, since when did you care about me texting you? And if you did care, you could have just texted first..."

Tatenashi didn't seem that put off by Church's good points. "It's the principle of the thing, don't you know? I mean, I've already friendzoned you, but you should still pine after a beautiful and talented girl like me. I just feel a little insulted, that's all."

Church sighed. There was probably a good reason he didn't talk to Tatenashi that much. He didn't dislike her, but she was quite the handful. "Tatenashi, I'm kind of in the middle of something here, so..."

The Russian Representative donned a pouting look. "Wow. Even when I say it outright to your face, you just blow me off. At least Ichika just doesn't get what I'm talking about most of the time. Now I'm extra annoyed: I think we should fight over this."

Saying that, Tatenashi manifested her I.S., which Church noted had one of the strangest designs he had seen so far outside of Arachne. The majority of the machine seemed to be focused on her legs, with little more than headgear and gauntlets for her upper body. It also sported some sort of thick lance. Cerberus commented on the machine before him right away.

This I.S. appears to be the Mysterious Lady, Operator. It is a third generation I.S. produced by the Russian Federation.

Well she is the Russian Representative, so no surprise there. What else do we know about it?

Naturally, the Russians kept most of its abilities quiet. However, it seems to use a very strange nanotechnology as a weapon, manipulating water as we saw earlier.

Noted.

"Tatenashi, didn't you just say that using your I.S. outside of an official match is against the school rules?"

Tatenashi just kept that typical nonchalant smile of hers. "True, but I can always abuse my power and say that I only had to use it to stop you from breaking school rules."

"Man, even in school government the leaders are corrupt... fine, it's not like I'm against the idea. Kind of curious to go up against you, honestly. Rumors around here hype you up quite a bit, y'know?"

Brandishing her lance, Tatenashi smirked at him. "It's more than just a rumor. I'm the best pilot in the school, so don't get too excited just yet."

Cerberus confirmed that this was halfway true, even though Church hadn't actually asked.

She is indeed the best student pilot, Operator, having the highest practical and theoretical scores across all performance and knowledge tests. Though she should refine her statement, as she is likely less skilled than instructors like your dear Chifuyu.

I figured as much. Also, please don't call her that. I'm already in enough hot water with Chifuyu as it is, If she ever found out that I let you call her that, it's all over.

While he said this to Cerberus, Church gave a different reply for Tatenashi to hear. "It sounds like you think this fight it gonna be a walkover for you already. Now I'm a little insulted. Don't hold back, Tatenashi. I want to beat you at your best."

The girl smiled at him, clearly appreciative of his bravado. "Well alright, if you insist…"

With that, Tatenashi pointed her lance at him, at which point Church noticed that there were four holes near the base that looked suspiciously like barrels. This suspicion was confirmed when a barrage of munitions came his way.

That happens to be a rotary cannon as well as a lance, Operator.

You don't say?

In order to avoid a fusillade of bullets in close proximity, Church launched himself straight up with the Starstreak thrusters, ascending far into the air in a mere second.

Tatenashi followed his movement with a trained eye and an appreciative gaze. "My, that's quite fast."

She made no other comment as she rose into the air at top speed as well, though it was at a moderately slower pace. Deciding that there was really no need to hold back against someone as supposedly skilled as this, Church took his rather significant lead to ask Cerberus a question.

So, now that we've altered the form and function of Exeter, is there any new weaponry we can use? I mean, I feel like there should be some other tools we can use with the new setup.

Well, I took the liberty of making some modifications to turn our heat generation into a valuable resource. Generate enough heat, and I can redirect it to fixed weapons on the palms of the Starstreak model. By creating a magnetic containment field and superheating the air-

Cerberus, we really don't have time for a full breakdown.

Though it seemed a little miffed to do so, Cerberus cut its information dump short.

You can shoot plasma from your hands, Operator.

What?! Isn't that some DBZ type shit? Awesome, let's use those!

Converting whatever heat had already built up from his previous maneuvers, Church launched a volley of bluish-white energy out of his hands and towards Tatenashi. They flew through the air with more velocity than Church had honestly expected, but he was too busy enjoying the raucous explosions that shook the air as they intercepted the Mysterious Lady to think about it, leaving tendrils of energy fading away even a few seconds after impact.

Unfortunately, as the smoke cleared, it was obvious that Tatenashi had negated significant damage. A wall of water, though significantly depleted and surrounded by steam, had blocked the incoming damage.

Damn, that really does never work, huh?

Operator, if you're done admiring the new weapon, I would like to inform you that creating multiple magnetic containment fields for these projectiles is energy intensive. Try not to get too carried away.

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

Slightly distracted by the exchange, Church failed to utilize the Starstreak's full speed when Tatenashi came at him with some sort of whip sword. He still managed to evade a few swipes with some fancy flying, but his opponent being as good as she was, his evasive success didn't last for long. On his fourth maneuver, the weapon caught him around the ankle, and before he could think of a way to escape, Church was yanked towards his foe and smashed in the chest with her lance, which sent him soaring backwards.

Of course, he was still ensnared by her whip sword, so he found himself reeled in a second time for another brutal blow, but he happened to be prepared for this one. Deciding to use his foe's momentum against her, Church actually flew towards the Mysterious Lady, blazing past her with her whip still holding him, which put her on the receiving end of getting yanked around for a brief moment before releasing her hold on him.

Having put the Student Council President on unstable ground as it were, Church launched himself back at her at full speed and took the age old approach of using his limbs for a weapon, planting both feet into her back, something that would have been a lot nastier without the shield of her I.S. taking the brunt of the blow.

Thankfully for her, the only result of his blow was the crash of steel on an energy shield, which sent the Mysterious Lady and its pilot twisting end over end through the air.

Knowing that the best way to win any fight was overkill, Church didn't wait for his adversary to recover, instead choosing to launch more of his new favorite weapon at her. He made sure to tone back the sheer volume of plasma fire, but this time, he was sure the plasma impacted without resistance or defense.

Still, there was one major drawback to attacking foes with this new weapon of his, something that he really needed to name at some point. Usually, Exeter's sensors could easily see through the smoky aftermath of an explosion, but the residual plasma that accompanied this particular blast produced far too much interference for him to do so. He would have to truly wait for the smoke to clear so he could use his eyes to see the results of his work.

Unfortunately, when that smoke did clear, it revealed not one Mysterious Lady, but two.

Ah, Cerberus? What the hell is this?

Analysis of the prior used water wall reveals the use of nano machines. One is likely a duplicate of the original.

Talk about advanced technology. And you can't tell which one is the fake?

The duplication is very thorough; the nano machines are mimicking the energy signature of the original almost flawlessly. And the appearance is identical.

Church was forced into retreat as both copies of the Mysterious Lady and its pilot came at him.

Any reason you can't determine which Tatenashi is fake? Surely those nanomachines can't flawlessly imitate a human body.

They likely cannot, but the I.S. shielding itself is preventing a scan of the pilot.

Normal I.S. shields can't do that.

Church almost missed Cerberus' reply as he twisted between two jabs from two lances simultaneously.

It is likely that the Mysterious Lady has special shield equipment that works in synergy with its nano machine technology for exactly this purpose.

Thrusting sideways to evade a volley of bullets, Church wondered just how durable the duplicate would be. Still, whether or not he could destroy it in one shot, he did know that the copy could use very real attacks. The bullets flying at him weren't fake at any rate.

Naturally, having two enemies with range capabilities both long and short was always a bad thing. One of the enemies stayed back to harass him with its rotary cannon while the other manifested a lot of its nano water around its lance to attack him in close quarters.

While he was yet to be hit by that particular attack, Church was positive that the rotating spear of machine enhanced water would be extremely deadly. Unwilling to really try blocking it, Church settled on using Chrysaor to deflect blows. The good news was that the superheated plasma blade was easily evaporating water and disintegrating nanobots alike, so Tatenashi didn't waste too much time with that avenue of assault.

But as she allowed her water to return to the core of the machine, Church made a very important observation. The water formed a pair of butterfly like wings on the Mysterious Lady's back. This was likely where the water was stored when not being directly used for attack or defense. The major point of that observation however, was that one of the Mysterious Lady copies had much shorter wings, because there was obviously less water in it than the other.

Now the question was this; were its wings shorter because it was the fake and had to use most of the water to make up its body, or was it the real one because it had needed to use more water to create the fake in the first place?

Thankfully, Cerberus had an answer.

The one hanging back with the shorter wings is likely the fake, as it is unlikely that the fake would have enough water to manage the lance attack you just thwarted.

Seeing the logic in this deduction, Church still couldn't really do anything about it, because the supposedly real Tatenashi was keeping him occupied in close quarters. Even without her nano water boosting the strength of her lance, it was a very dangerous weapon and she knew how to use it.

Church realized this when a feint to his left resulted in a piercing blow to his right, a hit that deducted a lot more shield energy than he would have liked. The difficulty was also likely due to the unusual nature of Tatenashi's weapon. Most I.S. melee weapons were swords or weapons that were wielded like swords at least. A lance was a different means of fighting and Church didn't really have experience with it.

Still, it didn't take a genius to realize that, so far, Tatenashi's I.S. was suited more for short range combat than anything else. Even with long range capability, she didn't have long range specialization, and Church needed distance.

For a moment though, she was boxing him in with her two very real threats, and he needed an opening to maximize his speed advantage.

"Question for you, Ms. President; does I.S. headgear actually do anything?"

While most pilots would be thrown off by such a question in the middle of a combat, Tatenashi didn't seemed fazed at all, answering it as though they were talking over lunch even as she swung her whip sword at him again.

"It's mostly for synchronization between the pilot's mental faculties and the I.S. operating systems. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering if it was practical or a fashion statement. I mean, Laura's look kind of like rabbit ears, yours kind of remind me of dog ears… almost seems too cute to be a functioning piece of hardware."

Tatenashi gave that typical smile of hers that seemed so carefree yet so much more calculating than it let on. "Are you sure it's not just the girl wearing it that's cute?"

"Well, not in your case."

This time, Tatenashi was rendered aghast at being so blatantly insulted. She just couldn't believe the audacity, which actually have Church the opportunity he needed to break out of this entrapment.

Taking the chance offered to him, Church executed a maneuver that would have been impossible without the Starstreak, launching himself in a flip over the Mysterious Lady behind him even though he had been thrusting forward just before the move. He stopped his momentum completely when he reached the angle that he wanted to fire a concentrated blast of plasma from his palms at. He was really enjoying this new weapon a little too much. But hey, why not use a weapon that offsets the heat buildup drawback of the MTF propulsion?

His rapid relocation on the field of battle left his target unable to respond to the attack, and that particular Mysterious Lady took the blast straight to the back. As expected, it burst into molecules of water along with the streams of plasma, but the real Tatenashi wasted no time in launching her whip sword at him through the carnage.

"Whoa, I am not letting that happen again!"

True to his word, Church dodged the swipe of the weapon aimed for his torso, but unfortunately, he dodged right into the way of Tatenashi's lance, which rammed right into his gut as she rocketed out of the steam as well.

Church cringed around the blow even though his shield took the brunt of the attack, but he had to take even more hits as Tatenashi fired her rotary cannon into him at point blank range. Church's shields took that too, but by the time he was able to thrust away from the danger, he was sitting at a very uncomfortable thirty seven percent shield energy. He recalled Cerberus' advice in regards to the Starstreak's weakness to piercing damage once the shields fell, so he was eager to keep his energy defenses active.

He recognized objectively that he was losing. Tatenashi had landed a lot more hits on him than he on her. Of course, he could fix that if were risky enough…

Putting full power into the Starstreak so he could reach his maximum speed, Church blasted at his foe with speed too great for her to react to even with the enhanced reflexes her I.S. provided. That being the case, she took a slash from Chrysaor head on, and energy weapons had a knack for dealing massive shield damage.

He had enough energy to make another pass, but it looked like Tatenashi was ready for him with a water shield this time. Church was relatively sure he could cut through it with Chrysaor, but before he could find out the answer to that question, his next high speed rush was cut off by a yellow blast that he recognized as a Shock Round passing between him and his foe.

Turning his gaze in the direction of the attack, Church laid eyes on Shen Long hovering above the two of them in the arena, with Cecilia's Blue Tears to its side. Church nonchalantly called out to them.

"When did you guys get here?"

Naturally, Rin didn't take his casual greeting especially well. "Don't give me that! Do you two know that everyone can see you having a shootout over here when they look out a window?"

She then glared at Tatenashi. "Why am I not surprised that you're causing trouble?"

The teal haired pilot cocked an amused eyebrow at her brunette counterpart. "I'm not sure you're someone who has any right to make that accusation..."

Rin didn't look placated by the answer in the least, but Cecilia cut in before the brunette could continue arguing. "What exactly is the purpose of your conflict, if I may ask?"

Church and Tatenashi glanced at each other for a moment before they turned their gazes back to the two girls that interrupted their match, both of them answering simultaneously.

"Friendly sparring."

Rin didn't look especially convinced, but decided to accept it as both Church and Tatenashi descended to the surface and began to deactivate their machines. Church took the few moments the two of them had to themselves to speak.

"Draw?"

The blue haired girl smirked at him. "I don't know, I'm fairly certain that I was winning."

"Don't be ridiculous, I was winning."

Tatenashi didn't agree with this assessment.

"I hit you much more than you hit me."

"I hit you much harder than you hit me."

The two of them mockingly glared at each other for a moment before Cecilia and Rin made it to the ground to join them, at which point they allowed their expressions to fall. Unofficially, it would be a draw.

Rin was the first to speak when she touched down. "Anyway, you've got some balls popping off an unofficial sparring match in the middle of the day. You know Chifuyu would get mad as hell if she saw this, right?"

Tatenashi smirked at her playfully. "Oh, so the two of you came to save us from incurring Sensei's wrath? How kind of you!"

"We came to save Church from her wrath, not you. Saving you is just unfortunate collateral damage."

Church leaned over to Cecilia and whispered to the girl now that they had all deactivated their machines. "Is it just me or is Rin really hostile towards Tatenashi?"

The blonde whispered back. "I believe it's due to an incident during Ichika's birthday earlier this year."

Seeing the metaphorical one-way sparks fly from Rin towards Tatenashi, Church figured he would try to divert her attention. "So what, only you and Cecilia saw the fireworks?"

Church's tactic worked, and the brunette turned her attention towards him. "Most everyone else went for lunch already. Something you'd know if you ever actually checked your phone!"

For obvious reasons, Church felt that it would be a bad idea to share why exactly his phone wasn't available to him. So even though it wasn't really his fault, he went ahead and accepted the blame Rin was foisting onto him.

"Whoops. Hard to check in the middle of a fight, that's all."

"Then don't fight in places that you shouldn't be!"

"This is literally the fighting arena..."

Maybe sensing that Church had tried to help her out, Tatenashi now did the same for him, diverting Rin's attention before she could get angry at him. "Anywho! I've got some things to attend to back with the student council. Since I'm in a hurry, I'll let all of this unauthorized use of I.S. slide. Ciao!"

With that, the young student council president waved and turned to leave. Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "Was she not also a perpetrator in that regard...?"

Church placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think corruption runs pretty deep in the student council, Cecilia. We're better off just forgetting about justice. How about we just go eat lunch?"

Naturally, there was no dissent when it came to that plan, so soon enough, the trio was heading back towards the Academy tower. Although, by the time they arrived, a fair deal of the student body was already done eating their lunch, so the cafeteria was only half full. At any rate, any of their other friends they would have cared to eat with were absent, so Church ended up eating lunch with Rin and Cecilia alone. Once they all had their food, the conversation went fairly normally.

"It's weird, because I know the food here is actually really good, but it's somehow not as satisfying as the stuff we ate on vacation..."

Cecilia postulated as to why this was the case. "I believe food you eat while on vacation has a special appeal to it. Everything seems a little better when you have nothing to fret over. Eating in interesting environments likely also plays a part."

From her position at the table, Rin scoffed. "Or maybe you just miss my cooking already? I told you that everything else would taste subpar after you got used to what I can do."

Honestly, Church couldn't deny that. Aside from the fact that Rin was an extraordinarily good cook, there definitely was a very special appeal to someone cooking specifically for you.

"You might be right about that... you wanna cook something for dinner tonight?"

Before she even thought about what she was about to say, Rin cocked an eyebrow at him. "What do I look like, your wife?"

Realizing the implications of her question a little too late, Rin's face took on a dominant blush. Hell, so did Church's. In fact, this whole exchange made things a little awkward.

Ever since Rin had vocalized her feelings for Church, only to be gently rebuffed, she did her best to not say or do things that would make the atmosphere awkward. But sometimes, she slipped up. Probably because a big part of her was frustrated by the fact that she had to constantly play this game. Church had only really told her that he wasn't ready for a committed relationship yet, but how long did she have to wait? She was always struggling to hold back the question, 'are you ready now'?

It was frustrating, and something she had to constantly keep in mind. Was she even doing the right thing by laying off and trying to keep things casual? Giving him space? The whole reason she was trying to take it slow was specifically because being pushy and aggressive hadn't worked with Ichika. But what if she took it easy and things still never went anywhere? She didn't want that to happen a second time...

As for Church, he of course knew Rin was bottling up her feelings, and he hated to make her do that, but he knew the situation needed to stay this way. With how complicated his situation was, getting into a relationship just wasn't the best idea right now. After all, he could be dead or something in a few months. Or just dealing with some ridiculous bullshit on the other side of the world. There were just too many unknowns to worry about for something like that right now. It sucked, but it felt like the best course of action for everyone. If he was just interested in some short fling, then sure. But that wasn't the type of thing Church wanted to pursue.

Thankfully for both of them, Cecilia dispelled the awkward air without even actually intending to. Probably because she wasn't too happy about the implication accidentally made by Rin, or the fact that Rin was getting acknowledged so blatantly for her cooking skills.

"Y-you know, I am also quite the capable chef! I am certain that I could also make something you'd enjoy, Church."

Before Church could even accept that offer, Rin shot it down on his behalf. "This coming from the girl who put literal perfume in her food once. You can't cook, Cecilia. Just accept that."

Church was flabbergasted by this statement, so much so that he wasn't sure if he was actually supposed to take it seriously. However, Rin's expression was completely serious, and Cecilia looked incredibly embarrassed by the information being shared. At any rate, she certainly got upset about it.

"T-that was one time! There was no need to tell him that!"

Though the idea of anyone actually thinking it was OK to put perfume in food left Church aghast, he did feel bad for Cecilia in this moment, so Church did his best to bring her back up.

"You can't be good at everything, Cecilia. But hey, you own a Spitfire: that's something way more rare than being a good cook."

Seeing as how Rin gave him the evil eye after saying this, Church figured he should reword it in a more flattering light for both girls, but he didn't get the chance to, as the intercom system blared out a little jingle in the cafeteria. Church had come to recognize this sound as an reminder to the students that their classes were going to be starting soon. This prompted Cecilia and Rin to quickly try and polish off their late lunch, which didn't take long since they were already mostly through it.

"Well, though I loathe the idea of cutting our time short, I don't think our teachers will be very forgiving if we're late. We'll have to continue this conversation about my strengths another time, Church."

Cecilia rose from the table, with Rin accosting her verbally even as she followed suit. "Just owning stuff isn't really a strong suit, you know..."

Church gave them a wave as they left, deciding that there was no reason to rush his lunch since he had nowhere to be. In fact, he really had nowhere to be all day at this rate. He didn't want to bother Chifuyu with the awkward air between them, not to mention that the woman was busy for most of the day anyway. He'd already played around with the Starstreak modification, and even gotten some good practice in against Tatenashi. All of the girls were in class, and he actually already had the full Akatsubaki specs. Really and truly, Church had nowhere to be and nothing to do, other than plot his next moves for the foreseeable future.

Except he was already pretty much done with that. He had formed a plan of sorts to lure out Phantom Task and get a shot at learning more about Aggregate Paragon, but at this point in the process, he needed to confirm whether or not it was feasible with a particular unavailable person: Charlotte. He would need her help to pull off the plan he had in mind, but he couldn't talk to her right now to see if said plan was even slightly realistic. Church supposed he could try to come up with some alternative plans, but short of trying to bait Phantom Task out with Akatsubaki, he didn't see many other options that would work. After all, the only thing he really knew about them was that they stole I.S. and were working with Umbra Stratum to achieve some unknown goal.

Ultimately, there was nothing Church had to do. But since he couldn't very well just sit around and do nothing for the next several hours, the young operative returned to his room and worked together with Cerberus to come up with modifications and alterations to further improve the Starstreak augment. After all, even though it was an amazing upgrade, it had a lot of drawbacks to improve upon, such as the inertial dampening ability, heat dissipation options, and shield strength.

They worked through a lot of neat ideas, including the notion of using the propulsion system to generate energy for the shields while in motion, but it was mostly theoretical. Cerberus logged most of the ideas and went to work on perfecting them and determining the feasibility of their application. As for Church, it was not until the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon at six forty five that he figured he could find and speak to Charlotte freely.

The only issue was, he still didn't have his phone, courtesy of Chifuyu. So he couldn't text Charlotte and ask where she was. She could have been in the tower still, or at the dorms, or working on something in a research and development room. Ultimately though, Church figured that he would do well to check the dorms first, since it was easy enough to have Cerberus pull up a manifest and determine which room was Charlotte's. Thankfully, said room was a rear unit, meaning it had a window.

That was helpful because Church felt it would be a bad idea to simply waltz right through the dorms, which he would have had to do if Charlotte's room had no windows. Admittedly, there was probably no rule against males being in the female dorm, simply because there were practically no males around to ban from trying. But even so, it seemed like a good idea to not pay an evening visit to a girl in her room in plain view of the student body.

When Church reached the back of the female dorms, he quietly jetted up to the window he knew was Charlotte's, being mindful to not actually look through the window. He had already caught Charlotte in a compromising situation once before, and he didn't think she would appreciate him peeking into her room without any warning. It was just common courtesy. So, he made sure to look away from the window as he gently knocked on the glass.

There was only a few moments before he got an answer, as the very blonde he was looking for pushed her window open to give him a curious and confused look with those vibrant violet eyes of hers. "Church? What are you doing?"

Looking down at her from his slightly elevated position, Church noted that this was the first time he had seen Charlotte with her hair out of its usual ponytail: or rather, the first time he had seen it down without being slicked against her body in the shower. Aside from being a little longer than he had thought, her hair also had a wildness to it that he had not expected, being a lot less straight than it looked in its usual style. It kind of flared out a little, and Church had to admit that with her hair down like this it almost didn't even look like Charlotte. It was definitely a cute look on her, though it could have been enhanced by the nighttime gray sweats she was currently wearing, something that also looked kind of out of place on her.

"Sorry to intrude on you like this, Charlotte. I need to talk to you, but I don't have my phone, so I kind of had to do this. Is now a bad time?"

An unexpected intrusion or not, Charlotte wasn't the type of person to turn away a guest, especially one that she was friends with. "It's no trouble at all, mon ami. What happened to your phone?"

For obvious reasons, Church didn't give the full details on the exact reason is phone was absent. "I, uh... accidentally lost it this morning. Haven't found it yet, but I'm sure it's in my room somewhere."

Charlotte seemed to take his excuse at face value. "I see. Anyway, please come in. Just be a little quiet, Laura's turned in early for the night."

Though the idea of entering a girl's room would usually be a little awkward, Church had no issue accepting Charlotte's invitation. After all, she wouldn't let him come in if anything compromising was going on, right?

Church discovered that this was evidently untrue when he entered her room and began digitally storing his suit, because on the bed was Laura, as Charlotte had specified. What Charlotte had not specified was what the silver haired girl was wearing.

"Charlotte… why is Laura wearing that?"

The French blonde glanced over at the full on black and white onesie that Laura wore in bed, complete with the cat ears and tail. "What do you mean? She sleeps in that all the time."

Church leveled an incredulous look at her, clearly thinking this was a joke of some sort, but Charlotte's expression was completely serious. Church glanced back at the sleeping Laura and her cat pajamas, and he was unsure if he would ever be able to take her seriously again. On the other hand, he had seen how much of a badass she was in her I.S., so he was fairly certain he could.

Pushing the thought from his mind, Church figured he may as well get to the point of why he was here, though the barefoot Charlotte first moved to the fridge before he could. "Would you like a snack or a drink? Milk, maybe?"

Knowing it was kind of rude to refuse hospitality outright, Church nodded his assent. "Just some water is fine, thank you."

The girl nodded to him, pouring that for him and some milk for her, before handing him a glass and motioning for him to take the chair at her desk so she could sit on the edge of her bed with a smile. "So? I must admit, I'm very curious as to what topic required a late rendezvous such as this. Not that I mind the visit, of course. It's just a bit odd that you have something seemingly urgent to talk about."

Taking the proffered seat with a sigh, Church wondered what the best way to go about this was. "Yeah, well... it's... Charlotte, I know we haven't really known each other that long. But so far, I think it's safe to say that we get along. Even so, it's a bit awkward to ask this question so blatantly, but I don't really know how else to do it..."

Regardless of what Church was going on about, Charlotte had to admit that it kind of sounded like the buildup to a really awkward love confession. Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions, but honestly the prospect kind of excited her. She had never received a love confession before, and that was something that most every girl dreamed about. True, she was together with Ichika, but that had actually been her confessing to him. And though she had been happy to receive a positive response from him at the time, Charlotte readily admitted that the exchange had been... painfully ordinary and nothing at all as fairy tale as she had imagined. Ignoring the many problems that would arise if Church confessed to her, the prospect of having a boy ardently confess his love to her still tickled Charlotte's fancy.

Although honestly, now that she was thinking about it again... Charlotte had spent more than one night wondering if Ichika had accepted her feelings that day for the right reasons. Not that she thought he was using her or anything: it was just that Ichika had a very distinct idea of honor and what a man had to take responsibility for. She didn't want to entertain the idea too much, but Charlotte had already wondered if he had only said yes to a relationship because he felt obligated to. It was kind of sad to think about, and for that reason the blonde had intentionally not thought about it a lot. For now, she wanted to try and be happy with what she had, and questioning the foundation of her relationship with Ichika too frequently didn't help on that front.

"How close are you with your father?"

This question snapped Charlotte out of her musings quite quickly, but more importantly it resulted in a very sharp look from her that didn't look right on her usually kind face.

"Why are you asking me that?"

Easily sensing that he had not quite asked the right opening question, Church decided to take a different approach. "Sorry, I'm not trying to pry into your private affairs. But the truth is, I really need your help, and it's because of the connections you may have with your father's company. Whether or not this conversation matters really depends on how much sway you have with the Dunois Company."

Charlotte's expression softened. "It's alright, I know you well enough to understand that you'd never be so untoward. Still, it's difficult for me to answer that question without more context. What I can do is truly dependent on what you're trying to ask of me."

A bit warmed by her friendly demeanor, Church gave a brief smile before turning as grim as the situation required. "Well, that makes sense. I'm assuming you remember that I.S. that attacked us in Bath?"

"Of course."

"Chifuyu and I both did some research into our attacker. It's difficult to say with absolute certainty, but we're fairly sure that they were a member of an organization called Phantom Task."

Charlotte's expression came to match Church's own grim look. "The terrorist group that's been targeting valuable I.S. around the world?"

"So you've heard about them."

The French native nodded, more serious than Church had ever actually seen her before. "They're secretive, but I.S. development corporations around the world have been keeping tabs on them as best they can, including my father's company. No one really knows much about them, but we at least know what type of crimes they get up to. They're a boogeyman for I.S. development companies: the odds of being targeted by Phantom Task are actually quite low, but the threat is always looming."

Well aware that the reason Phantom Task had targeted him in particular was certainly not to gain an I.S., Church nevertheless pretended that he thought it was.

"I guess they had fairly decent motivation to attack us, with Houki's Akatsubaki…"

"Exactly. I've been worried for a while, wondering if they would come after any of us for our I.S., but they usually only target models that haven't been assigned a pilot yet…"

Church recalled that the Arachne had been stolen before it had even been put through any pilot compatibility testing, so that was certainly true. "Like the Silent Zephyrus…"

Charlotte cocked an eyebrow at him. "You heard about that?"

He simply nodded, which prompted Charlotte to continue. "So… you want to set a trap for them, right?"

Even though this was true, Church didn't want to admit to it openly. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, considering what you said about needing the Dunois Company, and this talk about Phantom Task... what else could you need from an I.S. armament production company besides setting up some sort of trap to lure in an opportunistic I.S. stealing terrorist cell?"

Church had to admit, he had underestimated Charlotte's intuition just a bit. "Well, you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. But I understand that this is asking a lot of you. Trying to intentionally lure in a group that attacked us once already is pretty dangerous, and I know your relationship with your father isn't the greatest..."

Charlotte seemed touched by his considerations. "I appreciate your concern. But since Phantom Task presumably didn't get what they wanted back in Bath, I think it's likely that they will confront us again in the future. If we could strike first, that would go a long way in ensuring both we and our friends don't end up in even more serious danger. At least if we lure them in, we are prepared to fight. If they catch us off-guard in the future, things could go very poorly for whoever is in their crosshairs. All of that said, if you want to go through with this plan of yours, I do have one condition."

The mention of a condition made Church frown a bit. It was almost guaranteed that this part wasn't going to factor into his plans very well. Still, it was better to have the plan get off the ground at all. "Name it."

"You have to take me with you. If we're going to stop them, I won't be left out."

As expected, that would be a problem for Church. It would have been better to capture a Phantom Task member alone, because then he would be able to interrogate them without worrying about keeping secrets from everyone else. But unfortunately, Charlotte's assistance was a critical part of this matter. Without her help this whole plan was bust, and he couldn't think of a way to lure Phantom Task into another confrontation without at least one of the girls being involved.

"Alright, I can't fairly deny you that, all things considered. But I have to ask: do you really have the influence to pull off this kind of thing?"

Charlotte's expression fell for a brief moment, but it hardened again soon enough. "I can, but not legally. My father… I definitely don't have the relationship I would need to pull any of this off. But I still have connections with high ranking people in the company. People that were close to my mother. What kind of bait do you have in mind?"

"Well clearly, they're only interested in extremely high functioning I.S. I'm thinking they'd be interested in a Gen 4…"

"But the company doesn't have a Gen 4."

"True, but that's not important. What's important is whether or not you can make it seem like they do. Could you falsify that information that realistically? And leak it without causing a huge problem?"

Charlotte chewed on her lip for a moment. "Well, it certainly won't be easy... making a leak is as simple as starting an unsubstantiated rumor online. It'll create a bit of a wild goose chase in the company, and we'd probably have to leak some classified prototype data, but… I think it could be done without really causing that big of a problem for the company. Well, short of them searching for a mole, but that's something for me to worry about."

Church was impressed by all of this, but before he could state as much, Charlotte continued thinking about the feasibility of the plan.

"That said, it's the physical aspect of all of this that's a bigger problem. If you want to lure Phantom Task into a trap, we need a physical location to lure them to, and at the very least, physical objects to serve as bait. Aside from the fact that there's no way I could paint a Dunois facility as a target, our foes would certainly not believe our trap location is legitimate if there is no security present. I can pull strings for the data side of things, but setting up a physical trap is outside of my capability…"

These were all some pretty good points: if they were really going to lure Phantom Task into an effective trap, it would need a lot of layers to be believable. It wasn't like they could just find some abandoned warehouse to claim as the holding place for something as valuable as a Gen 4 I.S. And like Charlotte said, there was no way they could get an official Dunois facility involved without legitimately securing their cooperation. So what could they do…?

"I think I might be able to solve this problem for you."

Church and Charlotte looked over to Laura's bed to see the girl sitting up with her legs crossed, not the least bit perturbed that Church was in the room, seeing her in her cat pajamas, or anything else for that matter. She was just rubbing a bit of sleepiness from her eyes.

Church sighed as the situation grew more complicated. "Laura, how much of that did you hear?"

"All of it. I'm a very light sleeper."

Church looked back to Charlotte, but the blonde merely shrugged. "It's not like more help is ever a bad thing…"

That may have been true, but Church wanted to get the least amount of people involved as possible. Every extra person that was involved was an extra complication he had to worry about. Unfortunately, there was not much he could do about it now. Besides, even if he had believed Laura to be asleep, he had still been discussing all of this right next to her. He should have asked Charlotte to step out into the hall or something.

"Well, what do you mean by that, Laura?"

"Charlotte is correct in saying that you'll need a physical wool to pull over the eyes of our foes. A facility is not necessarily required: our lure could be a transport vehicle that is 'allegedly' moving our pretend Gen 4 prototype between facilities."

To this, Church cocked an eyebrow. "Do I.S. even get physically transported like that? I mean, can't they be easily moved around in digital space? You know, you can summon Schwarzer Regen to your person from digital space at any time. So why would it ever need to be moved in the physical plane if it can do that?"

Laura folded her arms and gave him a quizzical look. "It's not as simple as that. Physical objects capable of being digitized and summoned back into the physical plane require specific anchor points. Digitized I.S. are kept in a secure digital space that can only be accessed in two ways. One, directly from the physical storage unit that keeps the data. That's similar to data on a USB. You can't access that data except directly from that USB."

The pajama-clad girl raised a finger. "The second way, the way in which I.S. are summoned to battle, is via anchor points. These are fixed locations with remote access to the 'USB', allowing them to pull data from it and materialize the I.S. stored within. The most common anchor point is the standby form of an I.S. The ornaments and accessories we have as our I.S. standby forms serve no real purpose other than as devices with direct access to the otherwise remotely inaccessible digital space that holds our I.S. data."

Really, Operator. You should have known all of this already. Exeter and its armaments function in the exact same way.

Hey, the intricacies of the digital summoning system were not exactly part of the Umbra Stratum learning curriculum.

Unaware of Church's brief exchange with Cerberus, Laura continued with her explanation. "All of this is to say, there are reasons why I.S. may be transported as physical objects from time to time. For one, I.S. are almost never moved in digital form from storage space to storage space, unless doing so could be accomplished on a completely closed system with no risk of outside interference. To keep with our earlier example, no company would upload and download their digitized I.S. via the internet. They would only do so by physically taking the 'USB' and directly connecting it to the new storage unit."

Finally, Charlotte decided to pitch in. "On top of all of that, if an I.S. armament is still in its developmental stage, it's possible that it just does not have digitized storage capability yet. That feature is often not implemented until the prototype is near completion. So that's another valid reason that an I.S. could be transported physically from one location to another."

Taking in all of this information, Church decided to turn it back to their original discussion. "OK, so we could use an active transport as bait. But where exactly are we supposed to get that? And we still have to answer the problem regarding security."

Laura, who had initially claimed to have a plan before Church's question sidetracked her, answered that.

"My Black Bunny squadron has the necessary means to provide both a believable transport convoy and armed I.S. to serve as our pretend security guards. As long as Charlotte can come through on the aspects of this trap that she has suggested, I can handle the physical side of things."

To this, Church cocked an eyebrow. "You have enough sway over that squadron to launch military operations like that? Not to be rude, but I didn't think you were in charge…"

"I'm not. But Phantom Task is an internationally wanted terrorist organization. If I can present a viable strategy for potentially taking them down, I'm certain my superiors would be amenable to the idea. Although, part of that conversation will be having a clear goal in mind for the mission: I assume the plan is to capture whatever Phantom Task operatives we manage to lure in?"

As far as Church was concerned, the end goal of this whole thing was a bit complicated. Technically, yes, the objective was to capture a Phantom Task agent. But Church kind of needed to capture them himself. He needed to get the enemy all to himself, so he could interrogate them with impunity. If the Phantom Task agent was captured by a group of people, specifically the Academy, it would be much more difficult for Church to get the information he wanted to know out of them.

Still, there wasn't much else he could say back to Laura. "Yes, I think we can all agree that capturing them would be the most beneficial course of action."

Laura simply nodded, since she had expected that answer. Charlotte raised another valuable point for the discussion. "So, we have the overall groundwork ready to go… who else are we going to bring onboard for this?"

Church was going to suggest keeping this to themselves, but Laura beat him to the punch with her own opinion. "At the very least, we must tell Chifuyu. It's not like we would be able to just leave the Academy without warning, and we'd have to explain the reason for our absence anyway. This isn't exactly a plan we can pull off under the radar before anyone notices we are gone."

Admittedly, Church should have thought about that. Charlotte and Laura were officially back at school now, so it would be obvious if they were absent for any extended period of time. Chifuyu would absolutely notice that they were gone and look into why. They could try to lie to her about why they were going, but it would be difficult to create a lie that was both believable and justified enough to warrant their absence.

That left them with little in the way of alternatives. They had no choice but to actually inform Chifuyu of this plan of action and try to get her agreement to it. The real question was, was there even a chance of that? Objectively speaking, a teacher allowing their students to run off and fight terrorists was a bit insane.

But these students were special. They possessed some of the most powerful battle machines in the world, and until the time came when they were no longer I.S. Representatives, they'd have big targets on their backs from groups like Phantom Task. It wasn't like they could avoid conflict forever. Still, it would be difficult to convince an adult to let them go out and intentionally seek a deadly confrontation…

"I guess you're right. I don't think we could convincingly lie about all of this to her. We don't really have a choice but to bring Chifuyu in on this at least."

Charlotte folded her arms and nodded as well. "Alright… well, I suppose there isn't much else for us to discuss. I'll get to work on this right away, and let you know how it pans out. Though that would be easier to do if you found your phone…"

Figuring that their impromptu meeting was coming to an end, Church finished off what was left of his water and got to his feet, all the while hiding a grimace. Not only did he have to talk to Chifuyu about this new plan, but he had to do so off the back of that awkward situation that had led to his phone missing in the first place. He wasn't exactly looking forward to that.

"…I'm sure I'll find it soon. Anyway, thank you for doing this, Charlotte. If you need my help for any reason, just say so."

The charming blonde gave him a assuring smile. "I will. Thanks for trusting me with this, Church. I won't let you down."

Church honestly wondered if any man in this world was good enough for a girl like Charlotte. She really was an angel… or as close as a mere mortal could get to such a thing.

Putting that thought from his mind, Church moved for the window again, only to be stopped by Laura's voice.

"Oh, leaving already? You know, spending the night isn't totally out of the question, Church."

Church glanced incredulously at the German girl, surprised that she had the audacity to level a flirtatious look in his direction while wearing the most non-sexual onesie in all of creation. You had to have a lot of confidence to do something like that.

Admittedly, Church wasn't outright averse to the idea of spending the night here. Hell, getting to sleep in the same room as two beautiful girls at the same time? Why wouldn't he want to do that? On the other hand, there were a number of practical reasons why it wasn't a good idea, not the least of which was the lack of any place to actually sleep in this theoretical situation.

"W-well, it's kind of dangerous to hang out in the girl's dorm, and even if I did, it's not like I have anywhere to sleep…"

Church could have sworn that the tail on Laura's outfit waved a little. "Considering my small size, I firmly believe my bed could sleep the two of us comfortably."

The young man knew it was a bad idea, but she was just so gosh darn cute. And hey, she was suggesting that they sleep together. What sane man would turn that down?

"W-well, I mean…"

"Would you be more amenable to the idea if I meow?"

At this point, Church's rationality lost to his carnal desires. Laura's proposal was way too good to pass up for any reason.

"A-actually, maybe I will-!"

Unfortunately, Church found himself pushed out of the window by a smiling Charlotte before he could lose all sense of sanity. Though it was sudden and required Cerberus to rapidly manifest Exeter so he didn't break a leg, Church was honestly kind of glad the blonde had dumped that metaphorical water on him to cool his engines. Free from the feminine wiles that had almost seduced him, Church quickly made his exit from the rear of the dormitory.

As for Laura, she donned a serious frown. "Charlotte, you damn cuddle blocker. It took a lot of courage to be so bold, you know."

"Come on now, Laura, I would have gotten jealous."

"We could have pushed our beds together and had plenty of space for all three of us to cuddle."

Though she hated to admit it, Charlotte's first thought was that such an idea was quite enticing. It took her a full three seconds to realize that regretting a missed opportunity to cuddle with someone that wasn't her boyfriend made her a bad girlfriend. Why were such thoughts even occurring? Sure, Church was handsome and kind and charming, but she was already in a relationship with her supposed dream man. Sure, it was just a passing errant thought, but if she were completely satisfied in her relationship, then a thought like that wouldn't have even occurred, right?

The blonde shook her head and ignored the questioning look Laura was now giving her. Even those in happy, committed relationships occasionally had a carnal thought about people besides their partner, right? It didn't mean anything unless you acted on such a thought, right?

Yeah, it didn't mean anything at all…

Originally, Church had planned to not speak to Chifuyu a mere day after their awkward encounter, but once he was finished with the conversation between himself, Charlotte, and Laura, he changed his mind, which was why he was on his way to Chifuyu's office at the moment.

It still felt a little early to approach her, but the thing was, the awkward situation between Church and Chifuyu was now a totally minor footnote that needed to be resolved. Church needed his phone back (or needed to know if he should get a new one) so he could stay in communication with Charlotte and Laura about the progression of their planning.

Furthermore, if they were going to have to get Chifuyu on board with their scheme at some point, it would help if Church could normalize their relationship before having that discussion. After all, having some sort of awkward tension in the air would make it really hard to have a serious and compelling discussion about capturing terrorists and all that.

So, the best thing to do was to try and get this, relatively speaking, small problem out of the way now. After all, if it turned out that it would take a bit of time and effort to resolve the situation, then getting started earlier would give Church more leeway to work on it.

Still, as he came to stand before the door to Chifuyu's office, Church had to admit that he felt pretty nervous. The lack of any communication between himself and Chifuyu since last night left him in the dark about where they stood and how serious the problem was. He highly doubted he would be blamed for Tabane's shenanigans, but that didn't change the fact that he was the one Chifuyu likely felt vulnerable and uncomfortable around at this moment.

And it wasn't like he could blame her. Church admitted that, if he were the one who had been unwittingly exposed to the girls, he would probably find it very difficult to feel comfortable around them too. Really, it was a miracle Charlotte had gotten over that time Church had seen her gorgeous ass in the nude.

Now that he was about to knock on Chifuyu's door, Church acknowledged that the awkwardness probably went both ways too, which he hadn't realized until this moment. It wasn't just that Chifuyu had been seen by him, it was that Church had seen her: was he going to be able to look her in the eye without imagining her in her underwear? It was one thing to fantasize about a beautiful woman with your imagination, but…

Well, suffice to say that Church could see why Chifuyu would be so bothered. She'd constantly worry about whether or not Church saw her as anything other than eye candy. Whether or not he was busy mentally undressing her instead of listening to her talk, or holding a meaningful conversation. Whether or not he still respected her.

Maybe he just had to dispel such ridiculous concerns. After all, something like that was the furthest from the truth. Church had to just be honest about that. With renewed determination, he raised a fist and knocked on the sliding metal door before him with his knuckles. It didn't take long for a curt response to arrive from the other side.

"Come in."

Church took a deep breath before doing just that, stepping into the room after the door slid open. He didn't say anything as the door slid behind him either, as Chifuyu was looking down at something on the digital pad on her desk. She seemed focused, so Church figured he should wait until she was done with whatever that was.

After a few more taps on the screen before her, Chifuyu's stern gaze rose to appraise her visitor: only to transform to an expression of near bashfulness as she identified who was there. Honestly, it was incredibly odd to see that kind of look on her. Church was so used to confidence and assurance from the woman that it felt almost alien to see her with a shifting gaze and nearly ashamed look.

"Ah, Church… I, er, about yesterday…"

Speaking of the unusual, a stuttering Chifuyu was totally abnormal as well. It was kind of cute, but the knowledge that she was only acting like this because she was uncomfortable made it more difficult to appreciate.

Figuring that it would help if he didn't just stand around silently in the face of Chifuyu's uncertainty, Church did his best to seem nonchalant: he just had to keep the exact specifics of why they were here out of his mind, and specifically not think of the color purple.

"Yeah. Does Tabane often pull stunts like that?"

At the mention of Tabane, Chifuyu's expression grew extremely irritated. For a moment, her agitation overtook any embarrassment she was feeling.

"No. Unfortunately, she's conveniently disappeared and I can't ask what the hell she was thinking before wringing her neck… she's always had the audacity to pull completely moronic stunts, but something like-"

Recalling exactly what stunt was being discussed and looking at Church again, Chifuyu's expression became sheepish one more.

"S-something like, you know, this… it's a first."

Perhaps realizing that she was acting nothing like her usual self, Chifuyu tried to regain some semblance of control by clearing her throat and focusing on the less embarrassing aspect of the situation.

"I'm very sorry about your phone. I didn't mean to steal it, of course. Or damage it… I was going to have it fixed before returning it to you, but I haven't had the chance to do that yet. I promise I'll get it sorted. Or I can buy a replacement, if you'd prefer…"

Church figured it was in his best interest to be gracious about this. Not that he had to fake it: he didn't really care that much about the phone. He made more than enough money to replace or repair it with the salary he made under Umbra Stratum.

"Don't worry about it too much. Honestly, as long as it still works, I can take it back now. I know you're often busy, so I wouldn't want to add another hassle on top of everything else."

For a moment, Chifuyu's face took on the confident, stern expression that Church was used to.

"No, my lack of control damaged your property. Fixing it is the bare minimum of my obligation. I'll have it back to you by tomorrow, I promise."

However, once this exchange was over, things fell silent between the two again. After all, the broken phone was totally secondary, a footnote compared to the actual elephant in the room that both parties knew had to be addressed.

Church didn't really know how to broach the subject. What should he even say? Hey, sorry I saw you half-naked without your consent? I promise I don't daydream about you and your body? Well, he had kind of done that before this whole situation, but Church knew he would do it a lot more now that he had actual material to work with… the imagination was a great tool, but knowing exactly what you had to work with, theoretically… well, that was something difficult to beat in the fantasy department.

Surprisingly, Chifuyu mustered up the courage to speak first, even though her eyes were glued to the desk in front of her and she had one of those rare blushes on her face.

"I… suppose there's one more thing left to talk about. Though I… don't really have much to say. All I can ask is that you please forget about it. I… please. I don't want something like that to... alter how you see me."

At this point, Church acknowledged that he had to come up with something to say in response. The question was, what should he say? He could just say that'd he would forget about it all, but not only would that be a lie, but he doubted Chifuyu would even really believe it. And if she doubted that, then it was unlikely that the awkward air between them would ever really dissipate completely.

He could tell the truth, but… well, that was like someone confessing to a friend: if it worked, great. If it didn't, it would just create an underlying discomfort between the two people that was difficult to overcome without a lot of time.

Ultimately, Church made his decision based on the type of person he knew Chifuyu was. He figured she would appreciate honesty more than some half-assed attempt to push things under the rug just to rush their way back to a faked normalcy.

That said, Church was going to say some embarrassing things himself, which was somewhat new ground for him. Well, he'd said a few nice things to girls before, but something this direct, and to someone out of his league… well, the worst that could happen was Chifuyu being disgusted or something. Which admittedly was pretty bad, but Church had already committed himself at this point.

"…I can't do that, Chifuyu."

The older woman's eyes widened as she directed her gaze at Church. She had probably been expecting him to try and smooth things over as courteously and unproblematically as possible. This response, on the other hand, was totally unexpected. Before she had the chance to question it, Church continued with his sentiment.

"If I'm making an assumption here, feel free to correct me. But I get the feeling you're worried that I'm going to start thinking about you in a… sexual way. And that, because of that, I'll stop thinking of you in any other light: professionally, as a friend, just as a person, even…"

Chifuyu was silent for a moment, but eventually she agreed with Church's assessment. "…yes."

Now that he was getting to that very embarrassing stuff he had to say, Church blushed too, and looked to the side away from the woman.

"Don't worry about something like that. I…er, you know… try not to think less of me for saying this, but I… thought of you in, uh, that kind of way from day one. You're beautiful. Beyond beautiful, you're the type of woman any man would dream about. So make no mistake, last night has not changed anything about the way I think about you in that regard."

Church was unsure what kind of expression Chifuyu had on her face right now, but he wasn't going to look, lest he lose the courage to get to the important stuff he still had to say.

"But I'm not the type of guy to minimize a woman down to her body, you know… just because I do see you as a… a sexy woman, and all… doesn't mean I don't respect you in every other way. I appreciate the person you are regardless of the physical. Nothing's changed about the fact that I respect you as a teacher, a pilot, and just an overall person. Really, even though I saw you in a state I've never seen before last night… it didn't change anything about my opinion on you. It just… reinforced the way I already felt."

Finally done with what he had to say, Church finally glanced in Chifuyu's direction again, just to try and gauge her reaction to all of this. He probably shouldn't have been surprised to see a prominent crimson blush on her cheeks, or the flustered look. Still, it was so rare to see that expression on her face, that even expecting it didn't change much.

"O-oh… i-is that so? I… didn't know you felt, er…"

Fearing that she would get the wrong idea, Church tried to add some extra context to his words. "Wait, it's not like, I mean, it's not like I'm h-hitting on you, or anything! I just… I mean, I acknowledge that you're beautiful and stuff, but I don't, like, expect something between us or anything. I-I promise that I'm happy with being friends!"

Chifuyu was silent for a moment as she contemplated what to say about that. "I…see. I will admit, it'll be a little difficult to ignore the fact that you… see me in a certain physical light, but… I think I can come to terms with that. After all, it would be ridiculous to act as though people can't be friends if they find each other attractive…"

Church cocked an eyebrow at her. "Each other?"

The older woman before him quickly realized what she had accidentally implied. "J-just a figure of speech. What matters is that this incident won't get in the way of us interacting normally with each other. Though I'll admit, I might still feel a bit awkward for a time… I'll do my best to keep that to a minimum."

"That's OK, I totally get that. I'm… glad, though. I was kind of worried you'd just want to ignore me to avoid this whole situation."

For some reason, this caused Chifuyu to look a little bothered. "No matter how uncomfortable it was, I wouldn't do that. You don't deserve to be punished for Tabane's misdeeds."

Church smirked at her. "Oh? Being ignored by you is a punishment, is it? You think pretty highly of your companionship, don't you?"

Understanding Church's attempts to ease things back into their normal routine, Chifuyu managed to smile a bit too.

"It seems that you think highly of it as well, no?"

"Yeah, I do. But as much as I appreciate your time, you looked kind of busy before I came in here, so I feel that I should get out of your hair."

Chifuyu hated to admit it, but Church had a point there. She did actually have a fair deal of work to do… and she still wanted to track down Tabane and beat the shit out of her.

"I appreciate the consideration. I'll be sure to get your phone back to you tomorrow, fully repaired. And, well… thank you for handling this with such maturity, Church. I was quite anxious about how this was all going to go. I didn't expect it to go this well."

Church figured he could at least brag a little. "Well, I do think I'm at least four years ahead of my age, if I say so myself."

Chifuyu chuckled. "If you say so. I'll see you tomorrow sometime."

"You too. Try not to work yourself too ragged tonight. Your good looks won't survive overwork and poor sleep forever."

Armed with new knowledge, Chifuyu found that such compliments hit her a little differently than it had before. She was sure that she was blushing a little bit as Church made his exit. Of course, she couldn't help but reflect on the conversation that had just transpired as soon as he was gone.

A beautiful, sexy woman that he appreciated as a teacher, pilot, and person, was it? It was no Shakespearean serenade, but… for some reason, Chifuyu found that her cheeks were a bit warmer than she was used to, and she couldn't deny that she liked the feeling.

---

Deep within the bowels of Umbra Stratum's main headquarters, a new project for the near future was underway. Ordinarily, this project would have been under the supervision of one Marcus Dougley. However, the man had up and disappeared: no one had been able to locate him lately. In fact, he had been completely absent from the base since the meeting between the Commander and Phantom Task.

Naturally, that was a very big problem for the organization. They usually kept very good tabs on their personnel, since each and every one of them represented a security risk of a differing severity. Dougley, in particular, was a pretty significant security risk, and the fact that he was missing without any clues as to his whereabouts was very troubling.

The base itself had already been swept head to toe by security personnel. Dougley's quarters and personal belongings had been taken and inspected already. Currently, there was nothing to indicate where the man had gone, but investigation teams were already branching out to relevant areas to continue the search. Umbra Stratum was determined to find out where their missing subordinate had gone, and deal with him appropriately. There was no justifiable reason for him to drop off the organization's radar without a word. Any explanation for why that had happened would certainly be a bad one.

At any rate, Dougley's position had, of course, needed filling for the time being. So at this moment, the new Engineering Lead, a bald, beady eyed man with an ugly mustache that gave him a look akin to a Sonic the Hedgehog villain, was in charge of the current project, a particular leg of the Aggregate Paragon plan.

Currently, he stood within the observation wing of hangar nine, which housed a recent reacquisition of Umbra Stratum property: the remains of the Silver Gospel I.S. The core was currently absent, in a different wing of the base. The armament itself sat below the new engineering lead, undergoing repairs and modifications for a new mission.

One of the aides stepped up to the side of the newly appointed leader with a digital pad in hand. "Dr. Voight, here are the current specs for the Crucifix armament, as well as the most recent data on Fairchild's current status."

Dr. Voight took the digital pad without a word and scrolled through the presented data. It was a bit annoying to spend his time on a project that was just a glorified resurrection of the Silver Gospel, but he understood why this was important. The Silver Gospel was not the endgame: merely a stepping stone to it, a useful test bed that had been lost too early. Soon, it would be used to facilitate the shedding of weakness from Aggregate Paragon's most crucial piece.

No humans, no feelings, no emotions, and no free will. Nothing would stop Dr. Voight's subsequent project from reaching their peak, pinnacle form.

Adjusting a few values here and there for this new and improved design, Marcus' replacement smirked to himself in a way that looked more like a grimace to any of the other engineers watching him. With the Gospel on its way to a full recovery and the upcoming 'Yggdrasil' project that would now be under Voight's supervision, soon traitors and enemies of Umbra Stratum alike would be crushed.

It was just too bad that they'd have to wait some time for it still. Yggdrasil was only just beginning, with only the first of its physical units entering production. With nine units in total to produce, it would take a while before they could even get to the actuation phase of that part of the plan. Still, once it was done… there'd be little else to do before setting off the fireworks, which would include getting rid of that inefficient gnat that currently operated the singular Exeter suit.

Voight almost laughed at the delicious deviousness of it all, but decided to enjoy the situation silently as he gazed on the Gospel's armaments. Yes indeed, things were going to get very interesting very soon, and he couldn't wait for the field tests that would allow these new machines to wreak havoc and prove their worth.

---

I'll give everyone one guess as to how the Yggdrasil naming convention is going to work. You get a box of internet cookies if you win.